Remarkably – though not so remarkable once the business is properly understood – at peak, 95 percent of a Thornycroft truck’s components were manufactured in-house by Thornycroft. Chassis, cabs, engines, gearboxes, axles, the lot. And each item superbly engineered with the emphasis on reliability achieved through an emphasis on simplicity, as anyone with mechanical familiarity with Basingstoke products would attest.
Although associated with the sprawling Hampshire factory complex occupied for the 71 years 1898 to1969, the marque’s history predates that. And trucks were also produced afterwards when – long after the 1961 AEC takeover – Thornycroft coexisted with Scammell in Watford under the Leyland Special Vehicles banner.
Between the first ‘commercial’ – the front-drive, rear-wheel steer No1 Steam Van of 1896 – and the last Thornycroft in the late 1970s total production exceeded 60,000 vehicles.
Thornycroft’s origins date to the marine engineering interests of John I Thornycroft. The business was constituted as JohnI Thornycroft & Co in 1866, following the success of a 36ft launch constructed by the founder. He also built its steam engine. It had the distinction of being the first Thames steam launch capable of keeping up with the eight-oared rowing boats in the annual Oxford versus Cambridge University boat race. conventional layout.
John I Thornycroft started the project in 1859 at the age of 16. Completed three years later, it was built in the Thames-side Chiswick, Middlesex studio at the home of his sculptor parents.
Although movingMary Thornycroft were most definitely not idle gentry. The best-known sculptural work of Thomas, John’s father, is Boadicea and Her Daughters, the monumental bronze of the rebel queen in her chariot located by Westminster Bridge and facing Big Ben.
